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"Giving away something in charity does not decrease a person's wealth, but increases it instead. The person who adopts humility for the sake of Allah is exalted in ranks by Him". [Hadith from Sahih Muslim].

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“The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
When a person passes away, their good deeds will also come to an end except for three: Sadaqah Jariyah (ceaseless charity);
a knowledge which is beneficial,
or a virtuous descendant who prays for them.”

If you would like to give a gift to WCM in memory of Dr. Mujibur Rahman (February 16, 1936 to January 25, 2018), please click below.

Dr. Mujibur Rahman, primary founder of the Winnipeg Central Mosque (WCM), regarded mosques not only as places where we can pray together, but also as vibrant spaces where we can learn, socialize, relax, embrace community as family and feel a sense of belonging. He truly believed in the importance of developing grassroots institutions for future generations. Although he traveled the world and always felt deeply connected to England and Bangladesh where he spent his childhood and young adult life, Winnipeg was always home. Since it opened in 2004, WCM has become a loved space in the Winnipeg West End and is a hub for cross-cultural and interfaith sharing and understanding. May it continue to be a Sadaqah Jariyah (ongoing charity) for Dr. Rahman and all those who have lovingly supported this effort throughout the years.

ANNOUNCEMENT and TRIBUTES:

On January 25, 2018, in Winnipeg, Canada, Dr Mohammad Mujibur Rahman, beautiful and affectionate husband to Firdaus, and courageous and compassionate father to Abdullah (Abbey), Jennifer, Saira and Nilufer Rahman, made his last great journey, from this world into the next. He passed away peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends. Dr. Rahman and family have been Manitoba residents since 1976 and he was a dedicated community pioneer.

Janazah prayer and funeral was held Friday, January 26th, 2018 at the Waverley Grand Mosque (2445 Waverley Street) after Dhur prayer.

May he achieve the highest level of paradise and rest in everlasting peace. May Allah (SWT) shower him with Mercy and Forgiveness, Ameen. We belong to Allah (SWT) and to Him we shall return.

TRIBUTE BY DR. MUJIBUR RAHMAN’S CHILDREN:

Our dad was known to many people of various backgrounds and walks of life as a good, kind and generous man. He was a devoted friend who nurtured and maintained his friendships by visiting his friends no matter the distance. He was literate and well-read in several languages. As a husband and a father, he had a consultative rather than authoritative approach. He was the respected and loving leader of our team. He is our hero.

He came from extremely humble beginnings, and was met with early challenges of hunger and poverty. Just as a rocket needs explosive energy to reach the moon, our father had to face incredible odds and seemingly impenetrable barriers to reach his goal of becoming a physician.

Indeed, being a doctor was an intrinsic part of his identity. He loved medicine with a passion. He thrived on helping patients with complex medical problems. Using his keen intellect and astute clinical knowledge and skills he often was able to make diagnoses that evaded others.

He was a life long learner. He had an extensive medical library filled with the latest editions of medical books, which he actually read for both professional development and for pleasure. He collected books on religion, nature and philosophy, and studied them with insatiable interest and a constant desire to better himself.

Our father's patients knew him as a caring and compassionate doctor. He was always very generous with his time and would do everything possible to get to the bottom of his patients' issues and endeavour to heal them. He took great pride in helping people. Throughout his career, by the grace of God, he saved so many people's lives and earned his patients’ life long love and respect.

Our father never forgot his humble beginnings and always supported his relatives, friends and the most vulnerable and needy people. He could not tolerate that anyone would go hungry or not have enough tuition for school. He recognized the potential in those who may have been overlooked by others and supported them to the best of his capacity. Although he may not have described himself as such, he was a staunch feminist who believed in a woman’s right to education and empowerment.

Our father had a strong love for animals and creatures great and small. He loved our family cats and they loved him. He was always greatly disturbed by examples of animal cruelty or negligence and gave many donations to animal welfare groups. He would often drive around with birdseed in his car to feed birds, especially during the winter.

He also loved nature and the outdoors. One of his favourite pass times was canoeing on the river. In fact, outside of working, this was one of the few leisure activities that he partook in.
Many who knew him as a professional, may not have known that he had a strong creative side. He was a poet, a movie critic, a music lover and even an actor in his younger days. He was very humorous and a wonderful story teller who could captivate any audience with riveting tales of his own amazing life and those of the many the inspiring adventure stories that he had read as a child and recalled with particular detail.

He was a great cook, with our mother as his sous-chef and ketchup as his secret ingredient!
One of our father's closest friends used to call him "Shangateek Chele", Bengali for "Wonderboy".

He was born in Asansol, India before the Second World War, experienced the Partition and became an expert physician whose career spanned several decades and three continents.
He never cared for luxuries. He gave away anything nice that he had because he was so generous of heart. He lived very simply himself, but made sure his family wanted for nothing.

He was a true visionary who loved people and whose ideas were often ahead of their time. He cared greatly about the welfare of our Muslim community’s present and future, and always endeavoured to build and strengthen its institutions. He played a founding role in Al- Hijra Islamic School, the Grand Mosque and Winnipeg Central Mosque.

Throughout his life, he gave open-heartedly and unselfishly of his time, money and energy to all who knew him. If was able to help someone, he would do so immediately and without hesitation. He made helping others a priority ahead of himself and did not procrastinate when it came to doing good work. If our father was here, he would humbly ask for everyone’s forgiveness for any mistakes that he may have made or shortcomings.

A dear and loving husband and father, a talented and skillful healer, an inspirational visionary, a generous benefactor, a staunch protector, a patient teacher, a devout worshipper,

Our hero, our friend, our wonderful, beautiful father.

TRIBUTE WRITTEN BY SHEIKH ISMAEL MUKHTAR:

When I first visited the Pioneer Mosque on Hazelwood, after my arrival in Winnipeg, I found a group meeting every Sunday for “tafseer” session on Quran. The instructor was Dr. Waleed Ezzat, then PhD student. Most of the attendees were also PhD students. Among this group, there was a man who looked different. He was well groomed, older in age, calm in demeanor and gentle in manners. He listened attentively, asked questions and sometimes made insightful comments. He caught my attention from the moment I saw him and he left on me a positive impression. After few encounters, I came to know that he was a family doctor and his name was Dr. Mujeeb Ur Rehman! From that moment on, I had the honour of befriending this great man and working with him on many community projects.
Dr. Mujeeb was a man of many accomplishments. He was a successful physician, great husband, loving father and a visionary community leader. Once Dr. Jawad Shah told me, Dr. Mujeeb is an exemplary doctor. He cared less about the number of patients he saw per day, but he cared most about the quality of medical care he provided to them, even if that meant less patients and less income. Dr. Mujeeb was a family man. I saw him everywhere accompanied by his wonderful wife Sr. Firdous and his wonderful daughters. They all volunteered and worked together as a team in serving their community. Dr. Mujeeb’s busy professional life and his deep commitment to his family didn’t prevent him from serving his community and leaving behind an impressive history of community accomplishments; here is a preview:

1- Manitoba Islamic Association (MIA) president:
In 1986 Dr. Mujeeb was elected as MIA president for one term. As president he served his community with sincerity and dedication. He brought the community together, he welcomed feedback, he initiated many good programs and enriched the pool of community volunteers by bringing with him his whole family to volunteer and serve MIA. He was a well-liked and regarded president. He graciously ended his term and stepped down to pave the way for other leaders.

2- Pioneer of the MIA New Centre:
Dr. Mujeeb’s end of term as MIA president wasn’t the end of his community involvement, but rather a transition to a new undertaking. He shortly became a member of the MIA Board of Trustees when the board was assigned a major undertaking of our community, the establishment of a New Center. I had the honour of serving on this project with Dr. Mujeeb and this is where I came to know him closely. Dr. Mujeeb passionately worked on this project with his peers and I remember him actively driving through the neighbourhoods searching for suitable lands for sale. He was constantly coming with new ideas and proposals. In the process of his search, Dr. Mujeeb came across a huge piece of land outside of Winnipeg, available at a cheap price. Dr. Mujeeb strongly advocated for buying this land, offering from his pocket $20,000. The committee, however, disagreed; it felt the land was too far. In retrospect, perhaps, Dr. Mujeeb was thinking of something bigger. A potential investment whose value might appreciate significantly in the future or a possible future camp site or a cemetery. Dr. Mujeeb was disappointed that his proposal was rejected, but still continued to work passionately as a team member. By the grace of Allah the 13.5 acre land our community owns today at Waverley was purchased after years of hard work. Certainly, Dr. Mujeeb will be remembered as one the pioneers of this great project that culminated in the establishment of the Grand mosque.

3- Co-founder of Al-Hijra Islamic School;
Dr. Mujeeb’s term as MIA trustee came to an end. He stepped down, again not to withdraw from community service, but to undertake another project. Dr. Mujeeb had a strong passion for education; for the longest time he spoke about the need of establishing a full time Islamic school. His vision was of a school with the highest distinction, open to Muslims and non-Muslim (similar to some of the top Catholic schools). In 1996 the MIA Executives, following a brain storming meeting, established a committee with the mandate of establishing an Islamic school. Dr. Mujeeb passionately joined this committee. The committee included members such as Dr. Al-Otaibi, Br. Abdu Eltasee, Sr. Shahina, Dr. Ahmed Sultan and others. The committee worked hard and within a short period, the first Islamic school opened in a rented facility on Pembina Hwy with 34 students! Dr. Mujeeb became the chair of the school board and he brought along with him his daughter Sarah who had a degree in Education to serve as Principal for a relatively nominal pay. The first 3 years were very difficult years. Dr. Mujeeb along with other board members worked hard on fundraising to make the school successful. Ones the school was in decent shape, Dr. Mujeeb decided to step down from the board. Interestingly, Dr. Mujeeb wasn’t in favour of “Al-Hijra” name, he preferred a generic English name, consistent with his vision of an inclusive school that attracts both Muslims and non-Muslims and provides high level academic learning within an Islamic ethical frame work. The Alhijrah School was a milestone in the history of our community, Dr. Mujeeb along with other esteemed members of our community will be remembered as its pioneers.

4- Founder of Winnipeg Central Mosque (WCM):
Dr. Mujeeb stepped down from the Al-Hijra School board, not to withdraw, rather to venture into another community undertaking. People living and working in down town area had difficulty finding a place to pray Jumma. The Pakistani Association offered a building it purchased on Ross Avenue for Jumma purposes. The place was in bad shape. With efforts of Dr. Ahmed Al-Saghier and MIA, the place was fully renovated. However, within a short period of time, the place was running out of capacity. Dr. Mujeeb who used to occasionally pray Jumma at the Ross location, saw the need for a bigger space. He took the initiative of looking for a larger space in downtown. With his leadership and his generous contribution and help of few others, an abandoned restaurant building was purchased on 715 Ellice. The place was in bad shape and needed a lot of work. For a full year, weekend after weekend, Dr. Mujeeb, his family and other volunteers worked relentlessly to fully renovate the whole place and make it ready for the community. The WCM project was perhaps the most difficult for Dr. Mujeeb, not only the financial and physical efforts it required, but the unfortunate attacks directed at him by those who failed to see his far reaching vision. Some questioned his motives and some felt he was diverting community’s effort from the New Center project on Waverley. It didn’t take long to prove them all wrong. Dr. Mujeeb was a selfless man whose primary motive has always been to serve and help his community. The mosque he established has become a beacon in our community for over 10 years; a place open for all, a place that provides much needed space and service to all community members in downtown. WCM will always be remembered as a lasting legacy of Dr. Mujeeb and his family.

5 – Teacher and mentor:
As Dr. Mujeeb was getting older, his undertakings of major initiatives slowed down, but his commitment to the community service didn’t wane. As much as he loved to learn, he also loved to share his knowledge. He continued his community service by regularly lecturing at Manitoba Muslim Seniors group meetings and talking about various health and wellbeing issues. This passion of sharing knowledge goes back to much earlier times in his life. I remember he used to conduct sort of “Islam 101” classes in his clinic on weekends for clients who were interested in learning. He also used to deliver regular reminders in Pioneer mosque.

Unfinished project:
One of the projects Dr. Mujeeb spoke passionately, but couldn’t complete it was “a Waqf” –endowment- fund. At one time he put forth a proposal of creating a waqf investment fund with a seed money of at least $100,000 to be invested and managed by experienced investment managers. The revenue generated to be used for MIA and community projects. He was willing to put cash from his own pocket; I remember he spoke to a number of professionals. His proposal, as visionary as it was, somehow didn’t gain momentum. Perhaps as we bid farewell to Dr. Mujeeb, this could be an initiative we can revive to honour our esteemed elder. When Dr. Mujeeb made his proposal of $100,000 seed waq, our community was small and had limited resources, but today our community is much larger and more resourceful; with strong will we can even go much bigger!

Personal note
Dr. Mujeeb was much older and more accomplished than myself. However, in his typical humble way, he treat me with great reverence and respect. When we both became members of the New Centre project committee, I was a bachelor university student living in downtown with meager income. I didn’t have a car. Regular Committee meetings were held in Dr. Usmani’s home in Linden wood. Transportation was a challenge for me. Dr. Mujeeb, out of his generosity, he committed himself to pick me up from downtown. He would drive from his clinic to downtown, then to Linden wood, then back to downtown and then back again to where he lived far in the South. For a man with a busy schedule and family commitment this was a daunting task, but he adamantly did it, not for few occasions, but consistently week after week.
When I became MIA president, he was very supportive and encouraging. After every khuttba I deliver he would come to me, either to ask a question or gives a suggestion or compliment. On Eid days, Dr. Mujeeb and his family regularly organized open houses. Attending these open house and chatting with Dr. Mujeeb was a joyful moment that I will certainly miss in future Eids!
The last time I visited him at home, he was very ill, but his heart and mind was with the community. Less than 24 hours before his death I visited him in hospital, he wasn’t talking, but his face was still shining with his benevolent demeanors.

Final note:
By the will of Allah, Dr. Mujeeb has departed to a better place, but he has left a permanent mark on our community. Today our community lost a pioneer, a founder, an elder, a wise man, a man of character and principle. Dr. Mujeeb never spent his time on negative energy –such as frictions and rivalry-, he wisely focused his energy on value added positive work.
Dr. Mujeeb has demonstrated to all that you can perfectly be successful in your professional and family life and at the same time serve your community well. He broke the shackles of ethnicity and chose to embrace the universal Islamic fraternity. If anybody believes that professional life takes people away from community work, Dr. Mujeeb has proven them wrong.

To the wonderful family of Dr. Mujeeb, the mother of all Sr. Firdous, to his wonderful children, as much as you feel sad, you should be proud to be a family of this great man. As I offer my sincere condolences, I humbly say, the best way you can honour Dr. Mujeeb is to continue carrying the torch he carried throughout his life and be pioneers in good work. May he rest in peace with the righteous and the blessed.